Rising Muslim-Buddhist Tensions Threaten Peace

The Nation (Thailand)

23 January 2015

Mohammad Alami Musa

People of faith have few reasons to rejoice as the new year gets into gear. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, 111 countries have seen peace deteriorate over the last seven years while only 51 have seen an improvement (Global Peace Index).

One primary cause is the increase in the scale of terrorist activities by groups masquerading as Muslims, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and now ISIS. Pew Research Centre reports that social hostilities involving religion have increased and that a majority of them involve Muslims versus Christians.

This dismal state of inter-religious relations shows no sign of improvement. On the contrary, religion-based conflicts are expanding beyond Muslim-Christian disputes. Tension between Buddhists and Muslims in the “saffron crescent” countries of South and Southeast Asia, specifically, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, has taken a turn for the worse.

…Mohammad Alami Musa is head of the Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

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